Jakle: Winter press tour memories

Updated 4:44 pm, Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Larry Hagman, from left, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy and Brenda Strong star in the new "Dallas."

Larry Hagman, from left, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy and Brenda Strong star in the new "Dallas."

Photo: TNT

Jakle: Winter press tour memories

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PASADENA, Calif. - Sure, it was fun catching up with the oldies but still goodies from Dallas, gazing at the always astonishingly handsome Jon Hamm and basking in the glow of such Hollywood superstars as Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore, who came to the TV press tour for various HBO projects.

On the other hand, it certainly doesn't pain me to get back to the sanity of San Antonio and leave behind, as a manic Russell Brand put it at a session for his upcoming late-night show on FX, "this toxic sequined wave of vapid culture."

Some memories still bring a smile.

First, a tip of the Stetson to the playful "big three" of Dallas - Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray and Larry Hagman, who, even in their 60s, 70s and, in Hagman's case, 80s, provided more amusement than most of the youthful television newcomers who paraded before us.

"This is a secret, but the original show should have been a sitcom because I laughed every single day that we were on the set, and nothing has changed," Gray said at the session for the new Dallas on TNT, which the network stressed was a "continuation" of the Ewing family saga, not a "reboot" or "remake." It premieres this summer.

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I know we laughed just about every time one of these three answered a question. Fort Worth-born Hagman, looking like J.R. again in a classic cowboy hat, appeared a tad frail physically - he's battling cancer - but still was quick with a quip. For instance, when someone mentioned Hagman's precedent-setting hold-out for more money during the series' original run, he grinned: "The cast of Friends owes me 10 percent."

Gray and Hagman also drew chuckles when they spoke of how the tempestuous relationship between Sue Ellen and J.R. carries over into the new series.

"Yesterday, we did a scene, and, after 13 years, she gave me my first slap," Hagman said.

"It was great," Gray cooed.

All three also couldn't heap enough praise on their younger co-stars - including Josh Henderson, who plays J.R.'s now-grown son John Ross, and Jesse Metcalfe, who's Bobby's adopted son Christopher. After the session, Hagman referred to Henderson's physique as an "eight pack," and Duffy, when recalling his famed shower scene that erased an entire season of Dallas in an instant, said, "I don't do showers anymore. That's these guys," referring to the buff Metcalfe and Henderson.

Dallas native Henderson indicated that the good fortune of working with a TV icon such as Hagman wasn't lost on him. After we were treated to a feisty clip from the new Dallas, showing an angry J.R. slapping John Ross, I asked Henderson what that was like.

"It was an honor," he said. "I actually asked for more takes."

Holding hands

It also was cool seeing the whole cast of Desperate Housewives one last time before the show signs off for good in May. (Creator Marc Cherry nixed the idea of a reunion movie.)

Especially heart-warming was seeing Ricardo Chavira, who's usually absent at these ABC gatherings - in favor of spending off time with his wife and two kids in San Antonio - and TV wife Eva Longoria holding hands during the press session. Later, he told me Longoria is like a sister to him.

In concert

Then there were the two rousing mini-concerts, courtesy of PBS, by '80s band the B-52s - who even got us sedentary TV critics to rock out to Love Shack - and Tony Bennett, who, at 85, was nothing short of bedazzling and had us leaping to our feet for multiple standing O's. His 10-song set included favorites I Left My Heart in San Francisco, The Way You Look Tonight and Maybe This Time. You can see the B-52s on a PBS special in March, and Bennett can be heard on a Great Performances telecast Jan. 27.

What a Hamm

When it comes to inspiring swoons, however, no one did it better than Hamm, who looked Gary Cooper-caliber gorgeous at a cocktail party promoting the new season of Mad Men.

Its two-hour premiere happens March 25 on AMC.

Why do women like Don Draper so much? Underneath all that masculine confidence, he said, they sense he's a bit "wounded."